Senator Cornyn’s office tells me he was the first senator to use the word “blog” on the Senate floor, this morning: “The news media is of course the main way people get information about government. The media pushes government entities, and elected officials and bureaucrats and agencies to release information that the people have a right to know, occasionally exposing waste, fraud and abuse. And hopefully, more often than that, letting the American people know what a good job their public officials are doing. But we’ve also seen in recent years the expansion of other outlets for sharing information outside of the mainstream media – to online communities, discussion groups, and blogs. I believe all these outlets can and do contribute to the health of our political democracy.”